FBI investigates Voatz for hacking attempt, blockchain voting

During the mid-term elections in 2018, someone tried to hack into Voatz. This is a blockchain based voting system used in the state of West Virginia. The hack was not successful, but is now being investigated by the FBI.

FBI determines whether hack was a crime

“During last year’s elections, we discovered activity that may have been an attempt to invade the mobile voting process in West Virginia,” said Warner, Secretary of State for West Virginia. “They didn’t come in and the security protocols to protect our election process worked as designed. The IP addresses from which the attempts were made were transferred to the FBI for investigation. The investigation will determine whether crimes have been committed. “

The reason why it still needs to be investigated whether the hack is a crime is because it looks like the hack comes from the University of Michigan. The hack could also be an experiment from a college about online security that got out of hand, CNN said.

Every vote counts

The mid-term elections are also referred to as the midterms. This is often seen as a gauge for the current president. In this case, Trump was elected president in 2016. Two years later the midterms were, because every two years 435 seats are released in the House of Representatives and 35 out of 100 seats in the Senate. These two “houses” together form the Congress.

Voatz ran a pilot to test their vote-on-the-blockchain app. In November 2018, 144 voters from West Virginia voted through Voatz. That doesn’t seem much but four seats in the House of Representatives of West Virginia were decided by fewer than 150 votes.

Electronic voting target for hackers

Via Voatz, users must verify their identity using multi-factor authentication and face recognition software. Voters then have access to their ballot papers and can cast their vote. However, FBI researchers are concerned that the installation of Voatz does not offer sufficient security.

Although the hacking attempt at the mid-term elections in West Virginia was apparently unsuccessful, this does illustrate that electronic voting is a target for hackers.

Researchers are worried

Yate Grauer from Slate writes that it is difficult to judge Voatz well. The company insisted on confidentiality statements from the participants. Many election experts are concerned about Voatz’s lack of transparency, says Grauer.

Researcher Ka-Ping Yee is also concerned: “I have not seen an argument that their system offers software independence and Voatz did not respond when I asked for this. Their FAQ states that ballot papers are printed, but it does not seem that the voter can verify the print. ”

“A concern for me is the dependence on personal mobile phones. Security measures applied to the digital ballot after votes have been entered into the phone, such as storing votes on a blockchain, do not protect users against attacks before that point, during the process of viewing the ballot and entering their votes. “

Permission to participate in blockchain

The permissioned blockchain from Voatz was built using the HyperLedger blockchain framework that was first created by IBM and is now supported by the Linux foundation. This type of blockchain differs from non-permissioned blockchains, such as that from bitcoin. To participate in a permissioned blockchain, a voter or auditor must first be verified by the owner of the blockchain.

In June Voatz raised another 7 million dollars to continue working on the software. Just before that, Overstock.com invested $ 2.2 million in the company.